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New Utahraptor skeletal published; my heart has been waiting for this
Topic Started: Apr 3 2017, 12:01 PM (1,399 Views)
magpiealamode
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No good hero is a one-trick phony.

Some interesting ideas, although I am cautious about splitting clades further and further. Technically speaking, there's a clade for every species in existence. But it some point it begins to feel like splitting hairs. Look at bush dogs and maned wolves, for example. They are each other's closest relatives (both within the tribe Canini, also including genera from Canis to Cerdocyon.) One is extremely stocky, the other quite leggy. This is just food for thought though, it's possible that there is other evidence reinforcing the validity of such a split. I feel that there is a bit of inconsistency in how we classify modern vs. fossil species.
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Furka
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I wonder if the more flexible tail has to do with the heavier prey a fully grown Utah could take on ? Perhaps a stiffened tail could have hindered the predator during the struggle ?
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Incinerox
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Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

magpiealamode
Apr 7 2017, 04:28 PM
Some interesting ideas, although I am cautious about splitting clades further and further. Technically speaking, there's a clade for every species in existence. But it some point it begins to feel like splitting hairs. Look at bush dogs and maned wolves, for example. They are each other's closest relatives (both within the tribe Canini, also including genera from Canis to Cerdocyon.) One is extremely stocky, the other quite leggy. This is just food for thought though, it's possible that there is other evidence reinforcing the validity of such a split. I feel that there is a bit of inconsistency in how we classify modern vs. fossil species.
It really helps when you can trap and take DNA samples of live specimens to determine which species are related to what.

A luxury we lack in paleontology, unfortunately.
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babehunter1324
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I wonder if the lack of ossified tendons in Utahraptor tail might be related with a secondary increase of the size of the Caudofemoralis longus muscle group. Maybe it's tail was wider and thicker than that of other Dromeosaurids?
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magpiealamode
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No good hero is a one-trick phony.

Furka
Apr 7 2017, 05:12 PM
I wonder if the more flexible tail has to do with the heavier prey a fully grown Utah could take on ? Perhaps a stiffened tail could have hindered the predator during the struggle ?
I don't know much about the raptor prey restraint theory but maybe that would come into play, unless Utah was going for animals as big as itself or bigger, then you might be right.
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